The report “Sustainable Tourism in the Alps (RSA4)” has been launched and is now available online.
Stefano Balbi, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia/CMCC – Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change is among the members of the ad-hoc expert group who realized the document, being in particular the expert appointed by Regione Veneto.

The current main challenges for all Alpine countries are concerned with land use, transformation of landscape, adaptation to climate change and the creation of job opportunities so that remote areas continue to be inhabited and managed.
In order to support the relevant decision-making bodies in their efforts to meet these objectives and thus promote sustainable tourism, the fourth Report on the State of the Alps provides firstly an overview on definitions, classifications, sustainable tourism policies and legal frameworks. Next, the factual situation of tourism throughout the Alps is set out, and finally the challenges the industry brings are discussed, including presentation of options and tools on possible ways forward.

An extract from the introduction of the RSA4:

«The Report on the state of the Alps is the fourth (RSA4) after those on transport, water and rural development. It focuses on the sustainable development of tourism, one of the topics directly addressed by the Alpine Convention implementation Protocols.

The report is therefore fully aligned with the Framework Convention and in particular with articles 25 and 26 of the Protocol on Tourism (monitoring of obligations of the Contracting Parties):

• evaluate the impact of the implementation Protocol in the field of tourism and the impact of other related Protocols (Articles 25-1, 2 and 3, Protocol on Tourism);
• explore the open challenges for Alpine tourism and the room for a wider implementation of the Protocol, also considering the possibility to adopt appropriate amendments to the Protocol, where necessary (Article 26, Protocol on Tourism).

Hence, this report completes the work of the Alpine Convention Compliance Committee and is based on the current state of play of sustainable development in the field of tourism in the Alpine region.
Finally the report analyses the state of sustainability of tourism in the Alps as far as it is possible. The limit of this analysis is given by the lack of relevant data.

Its structure includes:

• a general introduction to the sustainability of tourism;
• an overview of the situation of tourism in the Alpine regions of the Signatory Countries;
• an analysis of the responses already obtained by the Alpine Convention and its Protocol on Tourism in the Alps;
• a presentation of possibilities and opportunities for improving the development of sustainable tourism in the Alps».

Download the full report “Sustainable Tourism in the Alps (RSA4).

More information are available on the official Alpine convention website.